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The 

Trip Thru Fairyland: 

GREAT ONYX CAVE 


By 

ANNETTE WYNNE, M. A. 

* % 

Author of: 

‘For Days and Days” (Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York 
City) “Treasure Things,” “Fairy Streets” 

(P. F. Volland Co., Chicago.) 


Copyright by L. P. Edwards, 
1924 


Address: L. P. Edwards, Great Onyx Cave Hotel, Great 

Onyx Cave, via Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. 





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GLASGOW (KY.) TIMES PRINT 




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MY 15 '24 


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(0n a 7r»f> 4 7 


The Trip Thru Fairyland 
Great Onyx Cave, 
Kentucky 



CONTENTS 
A. Introduction. 

I. The Discovery of Great Onyx 
Cave, Kentucky. 

II. The Trip Thru Fairyland: Great 
Onyx Cave. 

III. Famous Mineralogist, Dr. Charles 
H. Richardson, on Great Onyx 
Cave. 

IV. The Great Onyx Cave Hotel. 




I 


Old Kentucky Home on Slemmons’ Farm—Original Home and First “hotel” at Great Onyx Cave. 















































INTRODUCTION 


In setting out to describe the Great Onyx Cave, one at¬ 
tempts to describe the indescribable, so rare a jewel of wonder 
is it. It is no far-fetched comparison to liken this under¬ 
ground world of beauty to Fairyland, for with all the sub¬ 
limity that is everywhere in the cave, there is always the 
suggestion of something so delicately lovely, so fragilely fine 
and airy and ethereal, that time and time again the most 
practical-minded one of a cave party has characterized it in 
just that way. 

In the Great Onyx Chamber there is woven everywhere 
in the scene, amidst great tree-like columns and massive drap¬ 
eries, some delicate fluting or shading that gives to the whole 
a touch of faerie. The three grottoes in the Great Onyx Cham¬ 
ber are the last word in fairy charm. There is no other 
expression that fits the loveliness, the exquisiteness, the per¬ 
fection of these, and of all. What could be more airy than 
gypsum flowers or fairy floss? The Corridor of the Giants 
is big and majestic; one could almost fancy the echoing giant- 
stride of a great mythical being, swinging thru this Titanic 
Highway, left by his predecessor, the Giant River. But, after 
all, it is a fairy world even here, for are not giants also of 
that enchanted region? And so, with the humorous aspect— 
the grotesque shapes rocks and formations and shadows take— 
it is so much of it of the order of “Alice in Wonderland.’’ 
There is room and enough for wonder and whimsy, humor 
and imagination. Some think these joyous powers departed 
from the world with carriages drawn by horses, or with the 


stage coach, but there are many safe sanctuaries, where, like 
precious birds, they are carefully nourished and kept alive— 
such places are caves. And, of all caves, Great Onyx Cave is the 
most superlatively blest with starry beauty. 

In the greatest cave land of the world, Kentucky, two 
caves, only three miles apart, stand out pre-eminently. Grand 
old historic Mammoth Cave, and Great Onyx Cave. Old 
Mammoth, called the “Seventh Wonder of the World,” is 
noted world-widely for its vastness and majesty, and its 
long association with the history and geography, literature 
and folk-lore of the famous region. The other, Great Onyx 
Cave, is famed for its exquisite beauty, for the rich variety 
of its numberless formations, and their pristine unspoiledness. 
There was no Great Onyx Cave known in the days of our 
childhood, when we marveled over the geography tales of 
great Mammoth’s huge avenues, and its rivers of sightless fish. 
Nor was there any cave known then that could be mentioned 
in the same breath as Great Mammoth. The human chron¬ 
ology of Great Onyx Cave began only in 1915, but so wide 
has spread the fame of its beauty, that in the few short years 
since it was discovered, it has become the custom for visitors 
to Old Mammoth Cave to plan, also, for the trip to Great 
Onyx Cave—“The Trip Thru Fairyland.” 

—Annette Wynne, M. A. 

348 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 


THE DISCOVERY OF GREAT ONYX 
CAVE, KENTUCKY 


Until 1915, Great Onyx Cave was a sealed cavern. Not 
only had no mortal man ever ventured into the shining cham¬ 
bers, but never the swift track of a bear or ’possum or coon 
had marked ever so lightly the softly-sifted sand of the river- 
made highways. This was a sealed cavern indeed, sealed even 
to the wild creatures of the primeval wood. The only inhabi¬ 
tants of these dark halls of beauty were bats and blind white 
crickets and spiders, and eyeless fish of the Stygian River. 

Nature created a matchless cavern by the wonder-working 
power of the busy stream, graved the walls with sparkling 
designs, hung festoons and draperies in every hidden corner, 
bedecked the ceiling with shimmering roses, hung therefrom 
gorgeous candelabra, spread star-trails and magic carpets of 
diamonds, and all for feet that never came until the discoverer, 
with shovel and pick, broke thru to Fairyland in 1915! Fancy 
digging into fairyland under a Kentucky Hill! It reminds one 
of the shepherd who found a magic key into a hillside won¬ 
derland; or of an Aladdin, startled at the splendor the Genie 
had laid at his feet. But the discoverer had no magic key, 
and no magic lamp. All he had for light was a tallow candle; 
but this was a lamp of wonder, indeed. Besides this, he had 
nothing lordlier than pick and shovel. 

The story goes back to the early 80’s. Three little girls, 
playing on Green River Hill Slope, were sent by their father, 
John Slemmons, farmer, to rake out what they called their “Big 
Spring.” The children returned to their father for help, re- 


1 



L. P. EDWARDS, 

Discoverer of Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 










Parting* that they could not rake out the spring bee use some¬ 
one had thrown into it a lot of peach stones and “sand. 1 ' 

Farmer Slemmons himself then went to examine the 
spring. Peach stones he found surely enough and also much 
sawdust, for what the children thought was sand was really 
sawdust. Now about a mile from here, Squire Shackleford, a 
brother-in-law of Farmer Slemmons, had a peach brandy dis¬ 
tillery and a saw-mill. It seemed strange that his peach stones 
and sawdust had come so far. For years after, these continued 
to pile up at the spring, and finally the branch and spring 
stopped flowing altogether. The branch that came from the 
spring was wdiere Farmer Slemmons had been accustomed to 
water his horses. Surface streams are none too plentiful in 
this part of Kentucky, so the old farmer grumbled, and no 
wonder. 

Years went by, and Sally, the oldest Slemmons daughter, 
married L. P. Edwards, a teacher and Baptist preacher from 
Brownsville. The young couple came to live at the farm to 
help out the old people, who had grown too feeble to take care 
of it. One day the old farmer told his son-in-law, Edwards, 
about the peach stones and sawdust. “Why it must have been 
an underground river that brought them,” said Edwards. 
“And underground rivers are what cut out caves. You must 
have a cave on your farm.” 

When the old couple passed on, there was lingering in 
the mind of Edwards the idea of a cave. He and his wife 
bought out the shares of other heirs. Soon the determination 
grew to look for the cave. 

Thus, ten years passed, and Edwards preached and farmed 
and paid the money that was owed on the farm; and then 
began the search for the cave. The first thing looked for was 
a natural openilig. He hoped to find a spot where the break¬ 
down of an upper level had left a crawlway, at least. He 


2 


studied the entrance to Great Mammoth Cave. However, search 
the hillside as he did, there was no sueh opening available. 

Two months of this search for a natural entrance con¬ 
vinced the cave-hunter that if there was a cave on his farm 
it was a sealed one. 

The next step was to unseal it, or in other words, to find 
a place to force a passage. He followed up the line of the 
spring to the place where the breakdown began. One might 
trace a line across the hill on one side of which the limestone 
stood up in regular order, and on the other side of which 
the limestone was thrown helter-skelter with here and there 
fragments of weathered onyx stools. On this line the digging 
began. 

All of this took months of patience, and perseverance 
against odds, against even ridicule. Money had gotten low 
in the Edwards’ household. There was not much sympathy 
for this cave-hunting project, especially in these early troublous 
days of the Great War in Europe. Not many people would 
rush to dig holes in the ground that led to nothing. What¬ 
ever assistance Edwards obtained in digging had to be paid 
for in farm products, as a bushel of corn a day. 

Having picked out the spot, the discoverer dug down 45 
feet. This took six weeks of steady digging. Then, when every¬ 
one had just about reached the limit of patience, the astound¬ 
ing thing happened. Eorty-five feet underground a crawl¬ 
way was found! Edwards crawled about 300 yards. After 
that, he found he could stand up straight. The sight that 
greeted his eyes was like something dreamed. Here was an 
onyx chamber stretching in majestic grandeur, column after 
column, white or pink or brown, like shining trees in an en¬ 
chanted forest. Thus was Fairyland found. Edwards had 
looked for a cave but he had never in his greatest moods 
expected to find such a one. 


3 


How could the discoverer believe he was really awake, 
and only adventuring under the chicken coops and potato 
patches of the old Slemmons Farm! Thus in bewilderment he 
groped his way to the deep pit now carefully bridged and 
called Edwards’ Valley, and by the light of a tallow candle 
looked wonderingly into the rocky, shadowy depths. 

In a few days the news was all about, and people flocked 
from far and near to see the wonderful new cave of beauty. 
They camped on the farm grounds, for Edwards and his wife 
had only a two-roomed log house; but that did not matter. 
They served good Kentucky meals out in the open grove, and 
people kept on coming so fast that very soon Great Onyx 
Cave became a Kentucky institution, already named by the 
side of old Mammoth, which for so long had been covered 
with glory. 

The exploration of the cave still goes on. There is no 
finality here. Any avenue may lead to the greatest treasure yet. 
The great river discovery of the winter of 1923 is an example. 
All the years since the discovery of the cave, the torrent 
had been heard roaring, but no one had reached it. Finally 
Sylvester Lee and Herbert Gore broke thru the rocky wall, and 
now there is open to travelers the wonderful River Trip to the 
Lucikovah River and the Three Sister Domes, the climax so 
far of all the wonders of the cave, that are too numerous to 
tell about in this tiny book. Call the roll of honor! All the 
known beauties of caves are here in Great Onyx Cave in per¬ 
fection and in plenty, stalactites and stalagmites, helictites, 
fluted columns, silver-white gypsum needles, flowers, feathers, 
ferns, stars, waves, snow heaps, shining balls, jewelled fish¬ 
tails, rosettes and fairy floss, as well as'hills and valleys and 
rocky passes, great gorges and torrents and hidden rivers. 
Here is a lovely jewel near the heart of the earth now ready 
for all to see and enjoy and remember—forever. 


4 



Entrance to Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 



THE TRIP THRU FAIRYLAND: 
GREAT ONYX CAVE 


With lanterns lighted the start is made from the Great 
Onyx Hotel. In single file we wound down the 200 yards of 
woodland trail amid the flare of blossoming dogwood and red 
bud. On our left hand we passed evidences of a natural cave 
breakdown only a few feet below the hotel. Here are clut¬ 
tered heaps of limestone rock that once formed part of the 
mighty roof of the first level of Great Onyx Cave. Incident¬ 
ally, we are reminded that every cave system in Kentucky has 
five levels. With our lanterns glowing oddly in the broad day¬ 
light, we look like a band of male and female Diogenes in quest 
of the fabled “honest man.” Ours is an easier task, however, 
and a more promising one. In the friendly grove at the cave 
entrance we stop for a broad view of Green River, and the 
sandy trail of the log-run on the opposite bank. 

There is nothing pretentious about the little door that leads 
to Fairyland, which is all as it should be. But tho the door is 
little, the shining domains within are vast and wonderful, we 
learn very soon. We enter the door and proceed thru the rock 
passage, which is the entrance forced thru the solid rock of the 
former closed cavern. In this entrance passage we note the 
swift current of air, common to cave entrances. Caves breathe, 
we are told. No wonder the air is so fragrant thruout as we 
find afterwards. 

Descending the concrete stairway, before we are aware, we 
find ourselves in the most amazing cave chamber in the world. 


5 


What it seems like is not to be put on paper. The splendor takes 
our breath away. Is it a vision, or a revelation, or just an awak¬ 
ening—something that was here all the time—and we never 
knew f Column after column, massive, fluted, draped, stand 
on every side—an enchanted forest of onyx it seems to us as it 
did to the discoverer when he first beheld it. At every gleam 
of the lantern new marvels come in view; here is a slot dome, 
still adding to the lovely draperies of pink or cream or crystal- 
white. Wherever there is drapery, we may be sure that over¬ 
head is a slot dome. 

Every corner is finished with a prodigality of detail; every 
startling pattern is worked out to ultimate perfection, with 
curves and columns, deep grottoes or graduated cascades, 
crystal waterdrops and trickling streams. Nothing is left un¬ 
adorned, no wall ungarnished, no rock unglorified. We won¬ 
der if there is a Gothic Cathedral with altar niches so richly 
wrought, or Moorish Palace with sacred thrones so over¬ 
whelmingly beautiful. A safe wooden platform that leads from 
one feature to the next gives us many a “close-up” of fairy 
wonders, and soon we are lost and impoverished of words in 
the bewilderment of beauties. 

On our right we pass three lovely grottoes—the Rose 
Grotto, the Fairy Grotto and the Sally Edwards Grotto. We 
think the Rose Grotto the last word in that form of under¬ 
ground beauty, with every sweet contrivance of line and shade, 
we could imagine, until we see at the next moment the Fairy 
Grotto. There is no dome to compare with the Fairy Grotto 
dome for exquisiteness. And what human milliner could fab¬ 
ricate anything so dazzling and bewitching as the delicate Fairy 
hat, with its yards and yards of fluffy white drapery of semi¬ 
transparent onyx? 

Fairy Grotto and Rose Grotto and a host of individual 
columns and stalagmites all stand on the Giant Stalagmite, that 



Phonograph Horn—Great Onyx Gave, Kentucky 








is estimated to contain several hundred cubic feet of onyx. We 
are told that onyx formations grow about one cubic inch in 100 
years. It is awe-inspiring, therefore, to conjecture how many 
ages this huge formation was building. 

Not far from the Fairy Grotto are a number of lovely for¬ 
mations; the Totem Pole, Solomon’s Temple, the Chinese Tem¬ 
ple, and the massive column called Dante’s Tree. At its foot 
are the giant roots, as it were; and up above in the jungle of 
enormous umbrageous draperies, it is no trouble to discern the 
suggestion of mighty branches and myriad leaves. This might 
be one of the Dante trees from the illustrations of Dore. 

For those who are visitors to the cave for the first time the 
guide explains the process of the formation of stalactites, sta¬ 
lagmites and columns. The limestone-charged water leaves 
pendent from the ceiling the deposit of calcium carbonate, a 
hollow tube-shaped formation. The water, trickling from the 
hollow stalactite, leaves on the ground the deposit of calcium 
carbonate that forms the stalagmite. This is solid. Other 
chemicals in the water or air may determine the color or 
shading. Iron gives a reddish, pinkish, or brown tint. Man¬ 
ganese produces black or grey. Magnesia gives white. One 
can never be too sure of the composition of these formations, 
however, without a chemical analysis, for often combinations 
produce widely different results in coloring. 

To produce onyx formations evaporation must be slow. It 
takes several hours for a water drop to add to the deposit. The 
stalactite and stalagmite finally meet and form a column. 
First, the column is shaped like an hourglass, like the large 
hourglass in the ‘‘Hanging Gardens.” Then, gradually, the 
depressions fill out with the addition of more deposit, until at 
last a perfect column form is produced, plain or beautifully 
fluted, like the glorious Mother of Pearl column in Great Onyx 
Chamber. Pendent from the ceiling, a few feet from Dante’s 


7 


Tree, are the wonderful giant draperies, massive and graceful 
and beautifully colored. One gets a good view of the slot dome 
above, from which came the carboniferous water to form 
them. The Elephant’s Ear is one of the largest draperies, The 
Fairy Scarf is a more airy one. 

Here are a group of stalagmites called The Cathedral 
Spires; and here, the Ambitious Rat is pointed out climbing one 
of the spires. The Rat’s Tail is quite convincing. Indeed, it 
is quite the most convincing Rat’s Tail we have ever seen! In 
the cave we must not be too serious—perish the thought! This 
is no place for that, altho here and there are many solemn 
“sermons in stones”, that speak to our hearts more surely 
than all of the studied rhetoric ever heard. Still, in the midst 
of sublime beauty that challenges our spirits and awakens our 
reverence, we shall often find occasion for lighter moods. In 
this beautiful Fairyland, Nature is a being of many moods, 
playful and awesome by turns, and never too long one way. 
In Fairyland it is not good form to be tediously serious, or 
literal. We must be done with the picayune limitations of 
our prosy bread-and-butter-street-and-number world. Fairy¬ 
land has its own standards and proportions, requirements and 
limitations. No one is ever meticulous as to size, or exacting 
in regard to shape. One cannot long be here with unenchanted 
eyes like those “men who lose their fairylands,” as the English 
author calls them. But here, in this magic world of a cave, in 
this dream come true, if they really look with all their hearts 
and see with more than eyes, they can, like ourselves, find every¬ 
thing again—get it all back—shining and new—more beautiful 
and more real than ever; for it was not Fairyland that was lost, 
after all, but we ourselves; for all the time it was waiting to 
find us, rather, and not we to find Fairyland. 

The Hollyhock Stalagmite, slender and beautiful, rises up 
hollyhock-wise, straight as a telegraph pole, to twelve feet 


8 



Drapery Dome—Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 




in height. All among the massive formations the most delicate 
and airy occur. However stern or substantial the line or form 
in this Great Onyx Chamber, there is always, everywhere, a 
touch of faerie, a suggestion of the ethereal, of the wraithlike 
and more than earthly. Hundreds of little transparent white 
stalactites, fine as flower stems, remind us of Fairy Knitting 
Needles and the Pipes of Pan. 

As we go along we are glad that Great Onyx Cave was a 
sealed cavern for so long. Only for this, these perishable 
treasures could not have stayed intact. Besides the facts that 
men carry away the formations for the love of beauty or for 
gain, and that the larger animals destroy the delicate ones, there 
is always the greater reason that the force of air and the 
changes of temperature from one extreme to another, preclude 
the preservation of any great amount of formation even if it 
ever grew. 

In an open cavern such lovely formations could exist only 
in the furthest recesses where these destructive forces do not 
reach. This is true of the onyx formations in the first beautiful 
chamber, and even more forcefully true of the fragile and elf- 
like formations of the lovely series of chambers we adventured 
thru later on. Nature, like a careful mother, secluded all these 
precious jewels from the world until the time came. The door 
to the world of treasure is kept little, even now, so that, as 
nearly as possible, the conditions of a closed cavern will be 
maintained and the formations will be kept in the same growing 
state indefinitely. 

Here are Twin Stalagmites only a few inches apart, but 
quite different in coloring. The guide places his lantern be¬ 
hind them, and we see the glow thru them, in one place pink 
and the other white. Both are rarely beautiful and translu¬ 
cent. 

We appear to be in a labyrinth of grottoes in the forest of 


9 


onyx trees. Of the three grottoes on our right the Sally Ed¬ 
wards Grotto is the largest and the most elaborate. At the en¬ 
trance to this hangs the indescribably beautiful scalloped and 
tinted drapery, the Japanese Shawl—the everlasting delight of 
all visitors. One should hear the burst of admiration as the 
guide’s light is placed behind it. The matchless tints are illu¬ 
minated into something too airily wonderful to name. There is 
nothing like it on earth, it seems, nothing so hopelessly en¬ 
chanting. This formation, a California man said, was worth 
the Continental Trip without any other feature of the cave 
added. The pattern about the edges is as exact as a beautiful 
bit of fairy lace. Near are other draperies, the Angels’ Wings, 
and the not less lovely, tho more mundanely named, Breakfast 
Bacon. But, of such is Fairyland! 

Here are the dainty nature-made terraced pools—serpen¬ 
tine dams they are called in cave parlance, with scalloped edges 
for all the world like those of the fountain-maker’s art. Did 
the fountain-maker copy from Nature, or did Art and Nature, 
converging, hit upon the same lovely line? Later in the cave 
we found these serpentine dams on a huge scale. These ter¬ 
raced pools in the Sally Edwards Grotto are called the “Bap¬ 
tismal Font.” Here, too, is the Bridal Altar, where a wooden 
platform has been raised on which several brides and grooms 
have stood for a wedding ceremony, with Mr. Edwards in his 
ministerial capacity officiating. In the . back of this grotto is 
the Frozen Cascade. Everything in sight is pure onyx, and 
beyond this chamber in which we stand, we see beckoning ave¬ 
nues leading thru distant forests of onyx to many another treas¬ 
ure chamber, we are sure. Up to the present it has not been 
possible to make all these beckoning fairy roads ready for 
travel. We can only wonder what domes and trails, what grot¬ 
toes and what great mysterious avenues wait under the 
hillside. 


10 


Terrace Columns—Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 

























How wonderful is a cave! And how limitless! There 
is no finality to it as there is to every day streets and everyday 
happenings. Always there is a trail beyond, always a door not 
yet opened. Always the next step may be the greatest. There 
is no saying when the climax will come. It is rather a sequence 
of climaxes, a faring from beauty to beauty, from wonder to 
wonder, till there are no words left to tell it. 

So, after the first discovery and exploration, has the cave 
been developed. Step by step, some beckoning pathways 
were followed and made traversable. For eight years the noise 
of a hidden torrent was heard in a part of the cave, but every 
endeavor to reach it only brought the explorer “up against 
a stone wall. ” Finally, in the winter of 1923, Sylvester Lee 
and Herbert Gore forced a passage thru the rocky wall. For 
the first time men’s eyes looked upon the torrent, Leaping 
Waters that had for so long, called to them thru solid limestone. 
But that was not all that was discovered. Besides the torrent 
there were a succession of domes, the Three Sister Domes, and, 
joyous to relate, an underground river now called the Luci- 
kovah River. And so with other parts of the cave—the un- 
foldment goes on like a great shining story. 

Passing thru the Colonnade we are shown many a lovely for¬ 
mation, and many a grotesque one. The guides have their own 
little jokes about these, which we forbear to tell. 

Soon we reach Edwards’ Valley, now spanned by a com¬ 
fortable bridge. Under the bridge is the dark and forbidding- 
looking chasm, with the great piles of ogrous-looking rocks that 
fell from the ceiling in the days before history. The ancient 
river was at work on this second level of the cave then. Let us 
mention here something that might have been stated sooner. 
The developed parts of this cave are on three levels of the five— 
the second, third and fifth (the river level). So far, there are 
two distinct trips—the Sylvan Avenue Trip, which we are fol- 


11 


lowing at present, and the River Trip. 

It was the dark chasm of Edwards’ Valley that stopped 
the exploration of the discoverer on his first groping visit to 
the cave in 1915. (Even now, when the trail over the bridge 
is so safe that we view it as comfortably as we might a scene 
from our own window, looking down into the black depths, we 
can well imagine what an awesome place this must have ap¬ 
peared as he stood in this terra incognita and with only a tallow 
candle for light, beheld the dark shapes in the mouth of the pit. 
Overhead are graceful sand-coated draperies. From the top of 
the dome to the mouth of the pit is judged to be about seventy- 
five feet. 

Next after Edwards’ Valley is the Corridor of the Giants, 
an Olympianly beautiful winding sweep of passage with great 
symmetrical rocky ledges like giant wainscoting. Here is 
where the primeval river carved out in bold sweeping curves 
its great underground highway. There is practically no for¬ 
mation in this avenue. 

It would be interesting here to make some observations 
on the condition of the hillside rock over the cave, and its re¬ 
lation to the growth of formations. Over the limestone strata, 
which form the roof of the caves in this section there is gen¬ 
erally a capping of sandstone. This is less soluble than lime¬ 
stone, and usually is impervious to water. Wherever this sand¬ 
stone is intact formations do not exist at all, or are sparse, as is 
the case in the Corridor of the Giants, and a few other places in 
Great Onyx Cave. Where the sandstone is worn entirely away 
and other conditions are equally favorable, there is a lavish 
growth of formation. The wonderful example of this is the 
Great Onyx Chamber. The myriad little trickling streams 
have, for ages, found easy ways thru the porous limestone. 
Over the Hanging Gardens and the Oriental Tents, the capping 
is partly gone. 


12 



Great Onyx Columns in Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 















On the “wainscoting” in the Corridor of the Giants is an 
interesting drift of sand away above our heads. It lies in a 
softly-sifted heap, as it were, just as it was left ages ago by the 
rushing sinking river. The ruffles in it, the guide says, are as 
fresh to all appearances as the day the cave was made. This 
great spacious corridor, so unlike Great Onyx Chamber, which 
just precedes it, is marked with a simple grandeur that is all 
its own. All this time our trail is over soft dry river sand 
which feels to our feet like friendly carpet. 

Presently we pass Grape Avenue, the Bill Board and the 
Dying Stalagmite. . This last is a wonderful summary of all 
Nature’s activities—building up and tearing down. Here is a 
stalagmite being destroyed by the same force that built it up. 
The trickling waterdrops that once fell upon it laden with cal¬ 
cium carbonate, now bankrupt of their formation-building 
chemicals, continue to trickle upon it. Holes six inches deep 
are eaten into the deposit. Molecule by molecule the stalag¬ 
mite is being destroyed by the same little stream that formed 
it in the first place. Soon the guide goes forward with his lan¬ 
tern and gives us in the distance a lighted view of the “Hang¬ 
ing Gardens,” the formations here are helictite, a curious and 
puzzling form of onyx. Very early in the trip we found we 
had no more adjectives in our pockets! And what a pity! 
Here is a chamber lavish with ornament and not one that is- 
not pure alabaster! 

The helictites take, as well as beautiful forms, very ludi¬ 
crous or whimsical ones. They seem to grow up as easily as 
down. In defiance of gravity they curl about in the most fan¬ 
tastic shapes. There are various theories about the reason for 
the queer forms they take. For us, lay people, only in the ABC 
Class of science, all this is too solemn and abstruse. Here are 
Grandmother’s Teeth and the Spanish Fringe. The Old-Fash¬ 
ioned Churn, a glorious piece of pure white alabaster is, tho 


13 


large, quite young; indeed is a “young thing’’ of only a few 
million years! 

After we pass the beautiful Chandelier our journey along 
Sylvan Avenue leads us thru part of that series of chambers 
known as the Gypsum Palace. Gypsum ornament, unlike onyx, 
is superlatively breakable and otherwise perishable. Dust and 
smoke are very destructive. As the ornaments are very reach¬ 
able and tempting in these chambers, it is the custom of guides 
to warn visitors that there is a ban on touching any with the 
hands or sticks or any way at all. For that matter sticks and 
umbrellas are not supposed to be brought into the cave. 

Here is a railroad map in gypsum decoration. The trail 
of the ever-patient Hercules seems to be missing. Some of us 
who were pulled up the grade from Glasgow Junction that way 
are sorry. For, with all its faults, Hercules “always gets 
there.” Hats off to Hercules! 

It is useless to try to tell in detail of all the many gypsum 
forms. Like the helictites, there seems to be no limit to these. 
Only, unlike the helictites, the gypsum forms are generally 
symmetrical, even orderly. Unlike the helictites, too, there 
seems to be a “standard form” predominating in each cham¬ 
ber. In fact, each chamber seems to have formations all of one 
form, while the helictites follow no pattern. It would seem as 
impossible to find two helictites exactly alike as it would be to 
find two human beings so. 

Here are the lovely Gardens of Prosperine; here the cham¬ 
ber of Gypsum Feather, here Fish Tails, here Sand Diamonds, 
here Selenite Snow. Ours is a starry pathway. Over all the 
walls are shining flowers, and in every crevice is a star! And 
then what we discovered! Like a Fairy Wrap hanging from 
the ceiling was a bit of Fairy Floss, the daintiest fairy thing in 
the world, or rather, under the world. Columbus could not 
have felt, more exultant at finding a continent than we did at 


14 


The Colonnade—Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 















the first sight of this gossamer beauty—soft as down, light as 
butterfly’s wings. This, we are told, is the infantile form of 
gypsum. 

Once the guide lets the lantern light go out; and we get an 
idea of the undiluted dark. We are sure we never, saw the 
dark before. It seems like “a thing” now, and not just space, 
—something one could hold in his hand. . Some enlivening 
stories are told on this subject. Once a lady opened her co¬ 
logne bottle in the cave. She must have been careless in re¬ 
corking it, for the story says, when she was back home she 
opened the bottle again and a great blackness overspread her 
whole town. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of this story, 
only having heard it from the cousin of a friend of a sister of 
the lady. 

Past the Kobolds’ dining room, a fit place for Kobolds and 
their weird revels, we came to’the large Serpentine Dams, men¬ 
tioned earlier. These are dry of water, but are alive with a 
myriad of katydids, or blind “cave crickets,” as they are 
called, that jump about giddily at our intrusion. 

Turning back on Sylvan Avenue, the Second Level, as far 
back as Perry Cox’s Pass, we descend to the Third Level, and 
see the remaining chambers of the Gypsum Palace. 

Diamond Hall is ablaze with starry fire. Next is a whole 
roomful of Gypsum Needles. Thru passage ways gleaming- 
like old-fashioned frosted Christmas cards, we enter the Jew¬ 
elry Shop, and then proceed to the Kentucky Subway. After 
that we go on thru more gypsum chambers—everything is to be 
seen that Nature can simulate with calcium sulphate—snow 
balls, cottage cheese, milady’s dressing table, the dental parlor, 
and others. 

Overhead are two dainty natural bridges that afford trans¬ 
portation for crickets and bats, each having an individual 
bridge, the guide says. Nearby is one of the interesting and pic- 


15 


tureful shadow forms. This one, the bear appears to gaze down 
on the traffic from a safe eminence all his own. He is the only 
bear who has ever invaded the cave, and being only a shadow 
bear, he could get in easily enough, you see. We are glad 
shadow bears are not dangerous, no matter how large! 

Here, too, is a conspicuous layer of Indian flint between 
limestone strata. There are various differing theories as to how 
it was laid there. There are several interesting rocks on our 
way now, the Pullman Berths and the Rock of Ages. Then we 
pass Lost Avenue and Elves Bridge, a natural bridge, very 
likely used by elves, altho none of those were visible on our 
visit. The nearest to Elves we saw were two cave spiders, each 
at the center of his web, each master of his tiny house and 
home, a filmy estate 250 feet below the surface of the ground. 
We felt a little intrusive coming in so uninvitedly upon the 
silence and seclusion of these lonely householders, with frail 
tenements reared so near to inanimate Nature’s frailest. Who 
could say which is lovelier—or which is the greater builder? 

On the Third Level, beginning with the Inverted Ballroom, 
are many queer freaks of erosion, if anything in this strange 
world of strange things can be called so. Here more than ever 
is borne in upon us how wonderful are the vagaries of the rush¬ 
ing stream. There is no way to describe the strangeness of the 
Shoe Shop or the Thousand Islands. 

Alladin’s Cave is good enough for any bandit. It is fit to 
have come out of the “Arabian Nights” without the changing 
of a line or hue. This is the really “Cave-Y” part of the cave, 
according to our childhood ideas of caves. There is no orna¬ 
ment only the great matter of fact dry bones of the earth, di¬ 
vested of all garments and trappings, the bare skeleton of a 
great primeval monster. 

Beyond, on the right is the Estes Lithia Spring, so clear 
and still we have to throw a stone to assure ourselves there is 


* 


16 



White City—Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 















water there. We go by the Twin Pits and the Hanging Rock, 
and River Rest, the entrance to the Fifth Level and the Luci- 
kovah River and Three Sister Domes. Leaving the descent to 
the river for our return, we proceed to the Oriental Tents and 
the Brown Helictite Gardens. Great clusters of beautiful for¬ 
mation hang like jeweled lamps from what looks like folds of 
an Eastern Potentate’s tents. There is nothing in the cave 
more graceful or elegant than these curved walls and orna¬ 
ments. With a wooden hammer the guide plays the chimes on 
some of the large and tuneful stalactites. At Pilgrim’s Rest, 
farther on, we find a clear fast-flowing spring for drinking, and 
near at hand, benches for resting. 

The guide shows where, in a tiny crevice in the ceiling, this 
little stream began its work on this level ages ago. Here is a 
block of limestone, large as a field, that the little stream split 
in two. One great section now canopies the chasm. Close by 
is the Little Brown Chandelier, and the Dragon’s Tongue. 

After the stop at River Rest we return to the Three Sister 
Domes and Lucikovah River. We descend Sylvester’s Stair¬ 
way, a clever piece of curved wooden stairway, evolved from a 
hundred feet of rope, down which Sylvester Lee first de¬ 
scended, September, 1923, after hewing a rock passage toward 
the sound of the torrent. 

It is so different from all the rest it is impossible to say 
just what thoughts come to us as we go down safely between 
the narrow towering walls. Altho the spray of the dashing 
water is all about, our trail is dry and comfortable. Thru the 
stairway the cataract can be glimpsed, dropping with a crash 
into the chasm in two successive stages. Imagine this torrent 
—and all the roar roofed and walled-in. At Gore’s Landing, 
named for one of' tjie two men who first climbed down the 
rope into the gorge, we halt for a cooling drink from the Foun¬ 
tain of Youth. Surely, one who ventures into Fairyland, and 


17 


down so far toward Nature’s heart, must receive some gra¬ 
cious gift or other, like youth or wonder or fresh desire. There 
is no use talking down here in the first chamber, for nothing is 
so insistent, nothing so present as an underground cataract. 
After all the grandeur and loveliness of the rest of the cave, 
what can we say of the Lucikovah River and the Three Great 
Domes? The Three Sister Domes rise up sheer above our 
heads with ledge and battlement, like the ruins of Babylon. 
Here and there is a large fossil protruding from its age-old 
hiding place in the limestone. 

At the Lucikovah River we climb into the brand-new little 
boat for our first underground voyage. Think of boat-riding 
360 feet from the outside of the hill in a little boat that would 
never see a tree again! There is no underground river like 
the Lucikovah. It is the only one in the country that has a 
torrent visibly pouring into it. As we hear the noise of the 
rushing, leaping, singing waters echoing thru the chambered 
domes, we know there is something here never to forget. 

Passing back past the Pool of Bethesda into which the 
torrent pours, we go thru the chambers of the Three Sister 
Domes up the Sylvester Stairway, past Gore’s Landing and 
the Fountain of Youth. 

Thus we retraced our way, taking a different trail thru 
the Hanging Gardens, thereby getting another view of the 
bridge, and the dome, the Taj Mahal, the Great Helictite Drap¬ 
eries, the Japanese Temple, the Fish Market and the Capitol at 
Frankfort. Here, too, is an alabaster stalagmite sawed across, 
the Onyx Table, which shows the structural lines of growth of 
the formation, as plainly as does a cross section of a tree shows 
its lines of growth. 

We stop for a look at a mummified .cricket, which, per¬ 
haps might be called in its present state, the “Fungified Cric¬ 
ket” rather, for it is mounted, specimen-wise against a rock 


18 


Edwards’ Valley in Great in Great Onyx Cave, K entucky. This marks the furthest point reached in 

the first exploration after the discovery in 1915. 



































with a sort of fungus cement, so to speak. This is the only bit 
of fungus we have noticed. We get a new view also of the 
Great Onyx Chamber with as keen a joy as when we came, and 
then, past pool and grotto and crystalline column, we find our 
way back to the little door in the side of the hill—the little door 
that had opened for us upon such vast starry worlds. It is all 
so like a fairy dream, as we step outside, back into the bright 
glow of a Kentucky spring day, with the dogwood trees just 
leaping into bloom, and the red bud lighting up all the slopes 
with Easter joyousness. And yet, it was not a dream, but 
realer than real, and truer than true, this journey into Fairy¬ 
land—:this vision of a living, growing, long sanctuaried miracle 
of beauty. 

We have all along compared the cave to Fairyland, but 
now the journey ended, it seems as if a great age-old book had 
been unclasped for us to read—a book as old and glorious as 
Nature herself. We thought how 


Nature, the old nurse, took the child upon her knee, 

Saying: Here is an old book thy Father hath written for thee, 
“Come wander with me,” she said, “into regions yet untrod. 
And read what is still unread in the universe of God.” 


19 


Helictites in the Hanging Gardens, Great Onyx Cave, Kentucky 












FAMOUS MINERALOGIST, DR. CHAS. H. 
RICHARDSON, ON GREAT 
ONYX CAVE 


The following article is the result of a visit from Dr. 
Charles H. Richardson, of the Kentucky State Geological 
Survey. It is quoted from the Sunday Courier Journal of 
Louisville, Ky.: 

“(The writer of this sketch is a mineralogist of repu¬ 
tation, as well as an able geologist. He is the head of the 
department of mineralogy at Syracuse University and has 
personally explored all the better known caverns of this 
country. He is well known as a writer on building stones, 
and other geological subjects. Dr. W. R. Jillson, State Geolo¬ 
gist.)—Editor’s note. 

“More than 16,000 visitors have this year toured the 
Great Onyx Cave, one of the greatest wonders of America. 
It is situated in Edmondson county, Ky., three miles north¬ 
east of Mammoth Cave. It is reached by the Louisville & 
Nashville Railroad to Glasgow Junction where a small train 
that suggests to the fertile mind a college educated wheel¬ 
barrow awaits the arrival of tourists for Mammoth Cave. 

‘ 1 From this point the visitors are conducted to the 
Great Onyx Cave by automobiles, where the combined efforts 
of both Luray Cavern and Mammoth Cave enchants and be¬ 
wilder the tourist. 

“Have you taken a trip through the Great Onyx Cave? 
If not, the reader may be interested in a mental stroll thru 
this wonderful cavern, studded everywhere with secondary 
mineral formations of calcite, aragonite and gypsum. Calcite 
is found in the forms of stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, 
pillars, pilasters, travertine and onyx. Aragonite, a variety 


20 



Grand Chandelier in the Colonial Ballroom, Great Onyx Cave, Ky. 







of calcium carbonate, crystalizing in orthohombic system, 
occurs in many curious forms. Gypsum is frequently mis¬ 
sive, but its delicately shaped varieties, selenite, satin spar 
nnd flos, are at every hand. Of minor importance are the 
epsomite, chert and flint. 

“The Great Onyx Cave was discovered June 12, 1915, by 
finding blocks of the Mammoth Cave limestone, normally in 
horizontal position, now standing on edge, as if the roof of 
a great cavern had fallen in, as indeed, it had, an incident 
so characteristic to the “krast” topography of Kentucky. 
Evacuation for forty-five feet led to the Great Onyx Cham¬ 
ber. The explorations of this chamber were with the light 
of a tallow candle. The walls at the entrance door, and the 
stairway leading dow T n to the Great Onyx chamber, are ce¬ 
ment. At the foot of the stairway no celebrated cavern of the 
world can furnish a more bewitching or enchanting spectacle. 
The Totem Pole stands guard like a sentinel. Fairy’s Grotto, 
with its stalactites and stalagmites, pillars connecting the 
two pilasters or sounding boards upon the wall, and the 
Leaning Tower of Pisa, all invite one to tarry longer than 
the jocose guides will permit. 

‘ i It would almost seem as though the historic Tower of 
Pisa was fashioned after Nature’s model. The fluted col¬ 
umns, fifteen feet in length and three feet in diameter', may 
well be models in modern architecture. The Breakfast Bacon 
looks so real that it makes you feel hungry, the Japanese 
Shawl and the Fairy’s Hat, with its translucent veiling, is 
coveted by many a woman of fashion. Frozen Niagara, true 
to America’s greatest water power at Yuletide, the Garden 
of the Gods, and the great Cathedral Spires overlooking the 
Garden lead the tourist to wonder what more enchanting 
scenery Nature hath in store for man. 

i 1 The Colonnade, as its name implies, consists of a for¬ 
est of columns on either side of the pathway. The Great 
White City is on the left, with its myriads of buildings, as 
its thousands of white glistening facets, Macaroni frosted 
and Jelly Molds inverted, suggest again the hunger of man. 

“Edwards’ Valley and Dome are filled with the most 
beautiful onyx, 100 feet high. Edwards’ Spring, never fail¬ 
ing, slakes the thirst. A rest, a slaking of the thirst with 


21 


Nature’s Moonshine, and the tourist walks down the Giant 
Boulevard to the Heleetite Gardens, where millions of helic- 
tites, growing in all possible directions, and in myriads of 
forms, Hanging Draperies, most exquisite grace the walls. 
Here also are seen the Alabaster Churn and the Devil’s 
Mortar and Pestle. One hundred yards further the eye catch¬ 
es the Great Chandelier pendent from the roof, as if in a mod¬ 
ern cathedral, and numerous smaller groups frosted with hel- 
ictites. Gypsum in the form of satin spar, and snow balls that 
open out into Mineral Flowers as perfect as those of Nature,, 
with leaves and petals both tinted and a pure white, with 
fibres as delicate as the finest silk, are some of the most 
beautiful and enchanting features of the Great Onyx Cave. 
It is doubtful if its duplicate can be found elsewhere. 

‘ ‘ Lithia Springs now' slake the tourist’s thirst, and 
then he moves on to the garden of the brown helictites, 
tinted with iron, and to the Cascade Falls, where the water 
falls 60 feet. Floral Gardens with figured walls, Sugar Ceil¬ 
ings strikingly suggestive of sugar cane, and Snowball Hall,, 
are too beautiful and suggestive to attempt to describe. 

“Echo Chamber is 200 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 20’ 
feet high, with arched ceiling covered with white gypsum. 
In this hall stands a Christmas Tree, decorated with thou¬ 
sands of cards by the visitors. 

“Meander Avenue leads one still further among Nature’s 
wonders. Its walls upon each side and its ceiling are cov¬ 
ered with most beautiful Mineral Flowers, so that the visitor 
wonders if there is any flower in the great laboratory of 
Nature that has not been imitated in these beautiful numeral 
products. 

“The temperature in this Kentucky Cave is approxi¬ 
mately 54 degrees, both summer and winter. The tourist re¬ 
turns from his five-mile trip questioning his mjnd, ‘Have 
I been dreaming, or is it all a reality?’ The vision lingers.” 


22 



Chimes of Normandy in the Chamber of Brown Helictites, Great Onyx, Cave, Kentucky 






























THE GREAT ONYX CAVE HOTEL 

Like a bright emerald ribbon, the Green River winds about 
the foot of Great Onyx Cave Hill, a part of Green River Hill, 
Kentucky. The hotel is a modern building, with all improve¬ 
ments of light and sanitation. It is built in a woody grove 
within a few yards of the entrance to Great Onyx Cave. 

The idea behind the Great Onyx Hotel is that the hotel 
exists for the guest—he is to be considered first, last and all 
the time! His convenience is the keynote. Nothing for body 
or spirit is allowed to be wanting. There is an air of personal 
interest in every comer. Old-fashioned hospitality is the rule. 
No guest is allowed to depart un-delighted. 

Besides the opportunity for viewing or studying the cave, 
there are other attractions, as the boating and bathing afforded 
by Green River. (Bathing suits are suggested for prospective 
visitors.) 

There is an open-air, roofed pavilion for dancing to the 
strains of a Kentucky orchestra, of fiddle, guitar, and “jug- 
blowing.” The modern dance, or the old-fashioned country 
figures are in order. 

An excellent radio in the hotel furnishes the current pro¬ 
grams for devotees of that form of recreation. 

Guides for the Cave are always on hand. Among these 
are Willard Holden, Roe Estes, Lee Wood, Herbert Gore, Syl¬ 
vester Lee, Charley Dennison, Bud Davis, James Crinshaw, 
and others. These men are thoroly reliable. Women, alone 
or in parties, are safe any time. 

23 


No special attire is needed for the cave trip. Trails are 
as clean and comfortable as town streets. There is no climb¬ 
ing:, stooping, bending, or crawling. It is well to remember 
the slogan of the Great Onyx Cave Hotel: 

A trip any time! 

A meal any time! 

A bed any time! 

We never sleep. 

Camping ground is offered free, as well as water, wood, 
porch, and toilet facilities. 

Tourists coming by the L. & N. Railroad, be sure to get 
off at Glasgow Junction (NOT CAVE CITY), and there change 
for the Mammoth Cave Kailroad, going as far as Mammoth 
Cave Depot, where a Great Onyx Cave taxi meets all trains. 
If a taxi is not there immediately at hand, a telephone call to 
the Great Onyx Hotel from the telephone box (free to tour¬ 
ists) at Mammoth Cave Station, will bring a Great Onyx Cave 
taxi in a few minutes. Taxis, like guides, are available any 
time, any season, any weather, day or night. 

Tourists coming by auto, drive thru Cave City direct to 
the Great Onyx Cave, following Great Onyx Cave signs. 

Travelers arriving at night may see the cave at once, and 
staying over night at the Great Onyx Hotel, may, after break¬ 
fast next morning, drive over to Mammoth Cave for the regu¬ 
lar morning trip. 

In this way parties with very limited time may see both 
Old Mammoth Cave and Great Onyx Cave with the greatest 
convenience possible. See Mammoth Cave without fail, for 
its great majesty and dignity; see Great Onyx Cave for its 
variety and its indescribable exquisiteness. 

• » 

Hotel rates are $3.00 and up by the day (American plan); 





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or 75 cents each meal, and $1.00 and up for room (European 
plan). 

Cave tickets are $2.00 with a government tax of 20 cents 
added. Large parties, by communicating in advance with 
L. P. Edwards, Great Onyx Cave, may receive a reduction on 
cave tickets. 



25 


Features of The Great Onyx Cave 

(Along “The Trip Thru Fairyland.”) 


Great Onyx Chamber 
Rose Grotto 
Fairy Grotto 
Sally Edwards’ Grotto 
Slot Dome 
Fairy Grotto Dome 
Fairy Veil Hat 
Chinese Temple 
Totem Pole 
Temple of Solomon 
Dante’s Tree 
Poets’ Corner 
Elephant’s Ear 
Fairy Scarf 
Drapery Dome 
The Bearskin 
Fairy Knitting Needles 
Pipes of Pan 
Japanese Shawl 
Baptismal Font 
Twin Sister Stalagmites 
Bridal Altar 
Serpentine Domes 
Frozen Cascade 
Angels’ Wings 
Breakfast Bacon 
Giant Stalagmite 
Cathedral Spires 
The Ambitious Rat 
Miniature Garden of Gods 
Hindoo Shrine 
Fresh Plaster 
The Sanctuary 
Tomb of Lazarus 
Stuffed Duck Dinner 
Macaroni Factory 
Jelly Moulds 


Prairie Dogs 
The Colonnade 
Lee Woods’ Trail 
Edwards’ Valley 
Edwards’ Dome 
Edwards’ Springs 
Edwards’ Pit 
Crinshaw Rock 
Corridor of Giants 
Grape Avenue 
The Billboard 
The Dying Stalagmite 
Kentucky Lady- 
Mummified Cricket 
Portrait of Washington 
Methodist Valley 
Methodist Preacher 
Hanging Gardens 
Dome of the Taj Mahal 
Onyx Hour-Glass 
Old Fashioned Squash 
Sleeping ’Possum 
Stuffed Pig 
Banana Stalk 
Elephant’s Foot 
Santa Claus 
Japanese Temple 
Onyx Table 

Evan Edwards Decorated Pass 

Fish Market 

Capitol at Frankfort 

Grand Chandelier 

Figured Wall 

Fool Alley 

Somebody’s Goat 

Railroad Map 

Gypsum Palace 


26 


FEATURES OF GREAT 

Diamond Hall 
Maple Sugar Ceiling 
Tom Tom 

Stern of the Titantic 
Silver Barnacles 
Elbow Bend 
Great Gypsum Feather 
Fog Horn 

Gardens of Proserpine 
Feather Hall 
Young Dinosaur 
Fish Tail Avenue 
Fish Tail Stalactite 
Explorer’s Sand Hill 
Emperor’s Vineyard 
Buffalo Head 
Dental Parlor 
Cliff Dwellings 
Indian Flint 
Friendly Bear 
Miniature Bridges 
Crickets’ Bridge 
Bats’ Bridge 
Rock of Ages 
Pullman Berths 
Inverted Ball Room 
Lost Avenue 
Elves’ Hollow 
Elves’ Bridge 
Aladdin’s Cave 
Thousand Islands 
Shoe Shop 
Onyx Eel 

Estes Spring (Lithia Water) 

Honeycomb Ceiling 

Twin Pits 

Rugged Pit 

Hanging Rock 

Dennison’s Way 

Old Fashioned Boot Jack 

Brown Helectite Gallery 

Oriental Tents 

Normandy Chimes 

Town Clock 


ONYX CAVE—Continued 

Cascade Falls 
Cascade Springs 
Beginning of Waters 
Pilgrims’ Rest 
Great Split Rock 
Little Brown Chandelier 
Dragon’s Tongue 
Three Sisters Dome 
Sylvester Stairway 
Fountain of Youth 
Herbert Gore Landing 
Leaping Waters 
Pool of Bethesda 
Lucikovah River 
Mammoth Fossils 
Lee’s Discovery 
Blind Fish 
River Rest 
Canopied Grotto 
Singing Spring 
Willard Holden Trail 
Quartz Nodules 
Selenite Carpet 
Fairy Hedge 
Fairy Ball Room 
Magic Floss 
Kobolds’ Dining Room 
Great Serpentine Domes 
Harry Bush’s Forks 
Perry Cox’s Pass 
Crystal Chamber 
Fairy Needles 
Angora Coat 
Milady’s Pincushion 
Sunflower 
Jewelry Shop 
Kentucky Subway 
Gypsum Rosette 
Star Dust 
Chicago Snow 
Milady’s Dressing Table 
Cottage Cheese 
Popcorn Balls 


27 


GREAT ONYX CAVE 

OPEN ALL HOURS 

ONE OF THE GREATEST WONDERS of AMERICA 

With Modern Hotel on its Grounds; on Picturesque Green 

River; Nice Bathing Beach-Water all Depths for Swimming, 

Boating or Fishing. Dancing Pavilion near Hotel. 

Three miles northeast of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and 
reached by the Louisville & Nashville R. R. to Glasgow Junct¬ 
ion. Change trains at the Junction for Mammoth Cave, and 
from the Mammoth Cave Railroad Depot take The GREAT 
ONYX TAXI-CAB LINE—$1.00 for each passenger round 
trip ,and hourly service. We never sleep! 

FOR MOTORISTS 

Reached via Cave City by automobile over nine miles of 
fairly good road on the way to Mammoth Cave. Watch the 
signs and detour via Great Onyx Cave. 

Open day and night and guides ready to enter on your 
arrival. No waiting. 

GREAT ONYX CAVE 

Tickets Sold on Guarantee Money Refunded if Not Satisfied 

With Trip 

Was discovered June 12, 1915, and is the eighth wonder 
of the world. Millions of stalactites, stalagmites and helic- 
tites suspended from the ceiling, growing from the floors and 
projecting from the walls, greet your gaze; there, are curtains, 
veils and draperies of transparent onyx, glittering and scin¬ 
tillating with all the colors of the rainbow. There are miles 
of great vaulted avenues; and walls and ceilings encrusted 
like Aladdin’s cavern with snow white alabaster tracery and 
coruscating with white crystal formation. Crysanthemums, 
roses, lilies, hyacinths and millions of other fantastic forms 
in waves and plumes bending, twisting and growing in defi¬ 
ance of the law of gravitation, odd to the picture. 

Free Camping Ground For Tourists. Wood and Water Free. 

CAUTION: Do not be misled into other caves with 
similar names contrived to deceive strangers. 

THERE IS ONLY ONE GREAT ONYX CAVE and it is 
owned by L. P. Edwards, whose address is Mammoth Cave, 
Kentucky. 

Local and Long Distance Telephone Connection at Hotel. 
Further information cheerfully furnished upon inquiry to 
above address.. 







































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